Anti-bacterial efficacy of elite medicinal plants on urolithiasis inducing flora

Author: Reena Laikangbam ¹, M. Damayanti Devi ^1* and S. Rajendra Singh ²

Received 20 December 2008, accepted 29 March 2009.

Abstract

Medicinal plants are valuable sources of novel antibacterials which are associated with the prevention and control of urolithiasis. Seventeen plant species, namely Allium odorum (Linnaeus), Asparagus racemosus (Willdenow), Averrhoa carambola (Linnaeus), Bonnaya brachiata (Bentham), Cissus adnata (Roxburgh), Cissus discolor (Blume), Coix lachryma jobi (Linnaeus), Cuminum cyminum (Linnaeus), Eupatorium birmanicum (De Candolle), Hedychium marginatum (Charles Baron Clarke), Hibiscus sabdariffa (Linnaeus), Mimosa pudica (Linnaeus), Orthosiphon spiralis (Merrill), Oxalis corniculata (Linnaeus), Piper longum (Linnaeus), Pratia begoniifolia (Lindley) and Tamarindus indica (Linnaeus), were screened for potential antibacterial activity against four selected urolithiasis inducing flora, namely Proteus mirabilis, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas stutzeri and Klebsiella pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae. This study was based on antibacterial susceptibility test in which the antibacterial activities of aqueous and ethanol extracts of the medicinal plants were determined by standard disc-diffusion technique. Observations were noted at the end of 24, 48 and 72 h incubation. From the screening experiments, H. sabdariffa exhibited the highest antibacterial activity in almost all the test organisms. Others, namely C. adnata, C. cyminum, O. corniculata, P. longum and T. indica also exhibited significant antibacterial effect to a certain degree. Ethanol extracts showed more efficacy for almost all the plants studied. Thus, C. adnata, C. cyminum, H. sabdariffa, O. corniculata, P. longum and T. indica show promising roles in the prevention and cure of urolithiasis. This study shows the potential and healing powers of medicinal plants and will be a great boon to the human society. In fact, folk or traditional medicinal uses represent ‘leads’ that could shortcut the discovery of modern medicines.

Key words: Medicinal plants, urolithiasis, antibacterial activity, aqueous extracts, ethanol extracts, inhibition zone.